Various charts are available for pilot use when maneuvering an aircraft from the en route environment down to an airport runway. These charts include, among other things, altitude and heading data that the pilot uses to maneuver and land the aircraft. A separate chart may be provided for each runway at each airport. In many instances, these charts are implemented as paper, or “hard copies,” that the pilot can strap to the aircraft yoke, for use during aircraft landing. These charts can be heavy and voluminous, and may additionally be subject to periodic updates, which can result in time-consuming labor to ensure pilots have the most recent charts. Thus, many of these charts have been converted into electronic chart files and stored in a chart database. The charts may then be retrieved from the database and displayed on one or more display screens in an aircraft cockpit.
Presently, most aircraft that use an electronic chart database are equipped with a separate, dedicated chart display system that includes appropriate viewer software. Unfortunately, the screen resolution of such chart displays is, in most instances, not as good as what is provided from the paper charts. Thus, when a chart is displayed it may need to be magnified or “zoomed in on,” to improve the readability of the electronic charts on the chart display. To facilitate this functionality, the chart display system in many aircraft includes appropriate software and one or more user input devices such as, for example, a cursor control device (CCD) and a zoom knob, that allows a pilot to zoom in (and back out) on selected portions of a displayed chart.
With the zoom methods presently implemented in most aircraft chart display systems, the object of interest to be zoomed in on is first moved to the center of the display screen, and is then zoomed in on. In one embodiment, once the pilot identifies the object of interest to zoom in on, the pilot then positions the cursor on or near one of the edges of the display screen. When the cursor is placed on the display screen edge, a graphical scroll interface is displayed and, once the CCD receives an appropriate user input (e.g., a button is “clicked”), the chart may be scrolled in various directions. Once the scroll interface is displayed, the object of interest is then moved to the center of the display screen using the CCD or other user interface. Thereafter, the zoom knob is turned until the desired magnification level is achieved.
In another zoom method embodiment, the pilot first places the cursor over the object of interest, and supplies an appropriate user input to the CCD. Upon receipt of the user input, a menu is displayed that includes various selectable options. One of the selectable options is a “Center Chart” option, which, upon selection using the CCD, moves the entire chart so that the object of interest is positioned at the center of the display area. Thereafter, the zoom knob is turned until the desired magnification level is achieved.
Although the chart image displays and the above-described zoom methods are generally safe and reliable, and result in the zoom object being centered in the display area, each suffers certain drawbacks. For example, each of the above-described methods can result in relatively large amounts of display space (up to 75%) being unused during the zoom process. These methods frequently involve multiple steps to get the desired image displayed, which can be time consuming. A significant amount of processing time and resources can also be used in implementing these methods. Moreover, the methods can result in orientation difficulties when zoomed in.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a chart display system and method for displaying and zooming charts that does not result in unused display space during zooming, and/or does not involve multiple steps, and/or does not use significant amounts of processing time and/or resources, and/or does not result in orientation difficulties. The present invention addresses one or more of these needs. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.